POINTS of PRIDE: Lone Tree School District

Lone Tree leaders - Mr. Stone & Mrs. Jacque

When visiting with Lone Tree School District leaders, their commitment to implementing standards with fidelity is strong.  They have had a strong elementary PBIS program (Positive Behavioral Intervention and  Supports) for 10-12 years which includes students earning Paw Prides as well as monthly assemblies to acknowledge school wide goals being met.  They have made the transition this year to Olweus in the middle and high school grades.  According to the Olweus website, "The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) is the most researched and best-known bullying prevention program available.  With over 35 years of research and successful implementation all over the world, OBPP is a whole-school program that has been prove to prevent or reduce bullying throughout a school setting.  It is a program that include methods to reach out to parents and the community for involvement and support. It is designed to improve peer relations and make the school a safer and more positive place for students to learn and develop." This is a focus for the Lone Tree School District.

DISTRICT DEMOGRAPHICS
District enrollment -500 (100 are open enrolled)
High school - approximately 145 with 65 in FFA (45% of the student body), 67 in Large Group Speech
Free & Reduced Lunch - 34%

FFA is an intercurricular student organization for those interested in agriculture and leadership providing a path to premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education.  Its members are encouraged to develop their own unique talents and explore their interests in agricultural career pathways.  Mrs. Mahoney is the ag instructor as well
as the FFA advisor.  An ag instructor is someone with diverse instructional skills who meets a wide range of interests for those students lucky enough to enroll in the classes.  Mrs. Mahoney offers agronomy, ag communications, plant science, wood working and welding, ag statistics, and ag construction along with so much more.  In ag construction Lone Tree students have built a self-feeder.  As part of a cross-curricular project, the FFA built bag boards, the art class painted them, and FCCLA made the bean bags for the game.  Their "Green Out" game raised $1000 when both teams paid $10 to wear green t-shirts to benefit the organ donor network.  This organization also provided a half-time speaker with local families being showcased.

Another program sponsored by FFA is the "Cash for Cattle" program.  When they heard about South Dakota losing thousands of cattle in a blizzard, they made t-shirts to sell locally but once the word got out on Twitter and Facebook, orders came in from all over.  They raised over $7000 through the sale of over 800 shirts across the nation.  Their story was covered in the High Plains Journal and the FFA magazine NEW HORIZONS as well as the Farm Bureau Spokesman.  Their project won the Communication Service Award at the state.  Mrs.  Mahoney's students are also known for leading the first student workshop at state on building Sukop homes in Haiti where they built four houses in three days.  Ag education and FFA takes down the walls of a classroom and provides for performance-based assessment and authentic learning that impacts the world.

Another amazing teacher at Lone Tree is Tanya McCarty, a high school English teacher and speech coach.  Her teaching has been transformed by implementation of the Iowa Core standards.  She is involved in unpacking standards and using them for backwards design - beginning with what we want students to learn (the purpose) and breaking it down to the beginning steps.  A big focus is on close reading - teaching students how to analyze and how to support their ideas with evidence.  The depth of conversations and quality of writing have been improved by the focus on standards.  Ms. McCarty is involved in building a culture of literacy.  She started a book club with over 40 reading IF I STAY.  She also has a staff book club who read and discuss how to take topics back into the classroom.  They meet one time per month and after reading the book WONDER, they focused on the question, "What are we doing in our classrooms about students with special needs?" 

I had the honor of meeting Paige, Greg, and Lexi, students involved in the Olweus program and

working towards improving the culture of the school.  They talked about the community service day where students raked leaves, held a canned food drive, baked goodies and delivered them to the elderly, and visited nursing homes.  Every other Friday the middle school and high schools students meet by grades to discuss various topics related to bullying.  The biggest issues at Lone Tree are exclusion and rumors so these students and 7 teacher meet one to two times per month to develop plans for solving these issues. 

Mrs. Jacque, principal,  told about the amazing staff she works with.  She believes their strength lies in being focused on the students and doing what is best for them.  They are continuing to work toward using data to make instructional
changes.  At the elementary they use "walpole" as a source for phonics-based instructional strategies.  They have WIN time (What I Need) where every student gets an intervention - remedial or enriching.  The IXL Math and Language Arts program provides a consistent progression of skills reflecting Iowa Core standards through which students work.  This program provides detailed reports and students earn ribbons and certificates as they work their way through the prescribed skills.  

Superintendent Michael Reeves is appreciative of the hard work done by his staff, but he also knows there is more work to be done as they prepare students for the 21st Century. Kirkwood Community College provides PSEO classes and Lone Tree runs two ICN rooms for making post-secondary connections.  The high school also offers AP classes for students to earn post-secondary credit.  He is committed to early out Wednesdays to accommodate teacher work time in Professional Learning Communities.

The mission of Lone Tree School District is in partnership with the community to develop productive, life-long learners whose goals are academic, vocational, and social success.  As one looks across the district, it is easy to see that this mission is being brought to life through the partnership between the district and community as well as the partnership between teachers and students. In the words of Simon Mainwaring, "Creating a better world requires teamwork, partnerships, and collaboration, as we need an entire army of companies to work together to build a better world within the next few decades.  This means corporations must embrace the benefits of cooperating with one another."  This cooperation is evident across all areas of the Lone Tree District.